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Maduro Arrives at New York Military Base; Interview with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH); En Route Soon To Brooklyn Detention Center. Aired 5-6p ET
Aired January 03, 2026 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:59:38]
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: They're going to be put into helicopters where they are going to make that trip to New York, where they are going to be brought to the Metropolitan Detention Center where they're going to be lodged.
It's interesting because, you know, they will not be the first president to be lodged there. The president of Honduras was a guest of the Metropolitan Detention Center until his conviction and sentencing. But he was recently pardoned on very similar charges by President Trump.
But let's think of, you know, who else is in that building that they're going to be living in, at least until Monday for the arraignment.
So their process, once they get to the federal jail would probably be as SAM's prisoners, that's Special Administrative Measures, where they would be kept in high security, in isolation, likely in isolation from each other as well and that female prisoners are handled in a different section than male prisoners at the MDC in Brooklyn.
But that's been a place where you've had R. Kelly, Samuel Bankman- Fried, P Diddy, Takashi 69, the president of Honduras and of course, Luigi Mangione.
So they will not be the first president or the first high-profile prisoners, but it will certainly be a change of lifestyle for a man who lived in the lap of luxury among millions and millions of dollars of what the federal government alleges was misgotten gains from drug cartels, and living between essentially palaces to a place that, has long been criticized, as a substandard jail facility in need of repair better health conditions, better medical facilities and so on. So it will be, for President Maduro, a shock to the system.
SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Certainly will be. I just want to reset as we begin the beginning of the 5:00 p.m. hour here in New York, what it is that you are seeing at this moment.
That plane there it's -- this is another stunning moment in American history and world history, truly.
The president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, is now on American soil, inside of that plane, flanked by DEA agents and others.
When we first saw the images of him, he was in sort of blackout glasses, so he couldn't see where exactly they were taking him. He was also in handcuffs, wearing what looked like either pajamas or some sort of tracksuit.
He was snatched from his home in the middle of the night by U.S. operatives, and now he is on American soil in New York.
He has been indicted by the DOJ on numerous different charges. The president of the United States saying that Maduro and the other defendants, which include his wife and his son, will feel the full weight of the American justice system.
There are a lot of questions at this hour as to what will happen next, not only with Maduro and his family members who have been taken, but with the country of Venezuela.
So let us recap and rewind to sort of give you a sense of what's going on now.
I want to go now again back to Jim Sciutto, our chief national security analyst, as we watch these remarkable pictures. Truly stunning moment in history of the president of Venezuela, the now former president, as he's been brought out of the country by the U.S. and is going to be facing charges, has landed in the United States.
We are watching to see when that moment is that he will be taken from that plane, and as we understand it, put onto a helicopter to eventually head to a federal detention center.
What are you learning at this hour, Jim? And what do you see in all of this at this stunning moment?
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, Sara, remember when this administration released its new national security strategy just a couple of weeks ago? And folks were reading it and wondering, is this a serious document? Does it indicate a major shift in U.S. foreign policy? Or is it largely political? Who had a hand in it, et cetera?
I was just reading through some of the language, and one of the clear headlines was, in general terms, threats in our own hemisphere, the western hemisphere are more important than those elsewhere, whether that be Europe, read that as Ukraine, the war in Ukraine or Asia, perhaps read that as Taiwan, that threats here that involve not just regimes or governments that this administration views as their adversaries, such as Nicolas Maduro, but also problems that they view as top of -- top of their list -- drug trafficking, migration flows, et cetera.
And here we see that that document was quite serious, right, Sara? That that -- that that shift is playing out before our eyes. It doesn't mean that the U.S. withdraws from Europe or Asia, but it is certainly more aggressive in its own backyard.
[17:04:49]
SCIUTTO: And then you begin to think beyond this project underway -- the Venezuela project, the U.S. running the country. And we're about to see, as you say, the leader of the country walk off that plane, perhaps in handcuffs and a blindfold.
Or is -- what does it mean for the Cuban regime, which is also an adversary of the Trump administration. Or even, it's a little different, because Greenland is run by an ally. But Greenland is a place that President Trump has said, that's in our backyard. I want it.
How far is the U.S. willing to go now to change the leadership and control of other places and countries in our hemisphere. So that, you know, the national security strategy wasn't just an empty document, apparently, because of what we're seeing on that tarmac in Newburgh, New York right now.
SIDNER: Certainly so. Great analysis from you.
I do want to now go as were looking at these pictures again, waiting to see the president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, being taken from a U.S. plane landing on U.S. soil after being captured by U.S. operatives there in Venezuela overnight with his wife. And he will be heading to a federal detention center at some point.
But for now, these remarkable images, as we wait to see him come down those stairs. The first images we saw of him, he was handcuffed and was wearing blackout glasses. We will see what he is in and the condition he is in as he comes out of this plane in just a bit here.
But joining me now is Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee joining us by phone. Thank you so much for doing so.
The first question to you really is what you make of this and whether you are surprised, annoyed, concerned that the president, the administration did not come to Congress to alert them of what they were about to do, this major move in Venezuela.
SEN. JEANNE SHAHEEN (D-NH) (via telephone): Well, I think all Americans should be concerned about what the president has done in Venezuela.
Obviously, Maduro is not a good person. He is a bad guy. But the president's unilateral action, without explaining what he's doing to the American people, without coming to Congress to brief us and denying for months that this was the goal. In fact, even I have been in conversations with Secretary Rubio where he said outright that the intent was not to have regime change in Venezuela. And yet that's exactly what's happened.
It's not clear what the cost is. It's not clear what the president means when he says the United States is going to take over running the country of Venezuela. What does that mean? How much is it going to cost? He hasn't ruled out putting boots on the ground in Venezuela. So I think there are a lot of unanswered questions that raise real
concern among my constituents and should raise concern among the American people.
SIDNER: I do want to get your take on this idea that the United States is going to, as the president put it, run Venezuela for a while. Whether you would back that in any way, the president says he's going to spend billions of dollars to do this for a time.
What does that mean to you in Congress? And will Congress step forward in some way, or does it have the leverage to do anything about all of this that has happened?
SHAHEEN: Well, I think the question is whether the Republican members of Congress who are privately expressing concerns will express those publicly.
And the fact is, this was a very successful military operation. There's no question about that. But the United States doesn't have a great track record on nation building. And that's what the president is talking about. He's talking about going in and running the country of Venezuela. And what we know is that there is a power vacuum that's already been created. We've heard from the vice president who President Trump says has been sworn in as president, but he's basically turned over one authoritarian dictator in the country to another authoritarian dictator.
And there's already a battle shaping up between her, between the defense minister, who is even more hardline than Nicolas Maduro.
And so it is not at all clear what President Trump is talking about when he talks about the United States running the country of Venezuela. And he's not given us any real rationale for why this was necessary and why it was necessary right now.
He said we want the oil; he said we're going to address drug trafficking; he said we want to keep criminals out of the United States. But none of that.
[17:09:42]
SHAHEEN: He keeps changing the explanation for why this is so critical at a time when we have a lot of needs at home, where cost of living continues to go up, where we have millions of people who have just lost their health insurance. And the president is focused on something that's happening thousands of miles away from the United States.
SIDNER: I do want to lastly ask you about what we're hearing out of Venezuela from Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez.
"The New York Times" reporting now that Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, said he was reserving judgment on her comments. She said that she has demanded the United States return President Nicolas Maduro back to Venezuela, clearly in defiance of the United States, denied that she planned to work with the United States. And now Marco Rubio is saying, look, were going to make decisions
based on their actions, their deeds in the days and weeks to come. What do you make of this? And what does this mean going forward, do you think?
SHAHEEN: Well, as I said, I think we are going to see a battle for control of the current leadership in the country. We've already heard from her. We've heard from the Defense minister that they both are interested in being in charge.
I think there's the potential to set off a wider -- wider instability throughout the region. It's not at all clear what drug cartels are going to do. And what role they're going to play in any new administration in Venezuela.
And again, what President Trump has done is to turn over authoritarian leadership of Venezuela from one authoritarian dictator to another.
So, I hope Secretary Rubio is correct that she might be willing to work with the United States, but there's no indication of that to date. And there's been no briefing of Congress and no real transparency for the American public about what we're doing.
SIDNER: All right. Senator Jeanne Shaheen, we do appreciate your time on this remarkable day. Thank you.
Let's go now to Kevin Liptak. We do have our panel with us as well. Of course, John Miller and Jim Sciutto, who will be talking in just a bit.
But let's first go to Kevin. Look, we are waiting to hear more. Everyone wants to know more about what the plan is. Although he did, the president, lay out some of the plans saying the United States will now run Venezuela for a time.
Give us some sense of what you're hearing if you're getting any updates on this as you cover the administration during this time.
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: No. And, you know, the president was remarkably vague about what exactly he meant when he said that the U.S. was going to run Venezuela going forward.
You know, we heard so much from the briefers today about what went into this operation, the months and months of planning that was put in, the CIA operatives who were tracking Maduro on the ground.
But when it came to what's going to happen today and tomorrow and then the next week and in the next month, the president really did not have a great deal of specifics about what that would mean.
You know, he said that there would be a group that would be in charge of Venezuela. At one point, he gestured to some of the national security officials who were there with him in the room. You know, Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth -- saying that they would perhaps be involved in the running of the country. But left so many questions unanswered. You know, I asked the question about boots on the ground, whether the president envisions some sort of prolonged military presence in Venezuela going forward. And the president sort of immediately pivoted to the question of the oil and the U.S. claims on those vast oil reserves in Venezuela, really not answering how he envisions the U.S. military being involved going forward.
Although saying and leaving out the option that there could be a second strike, which he said would be more powerful than the first one if the remnants of the Maduro regime don't cede to this American claim on power in that country. And so a lot, a lot of questions moving ahead.
You know, I think looking at these images of the plane there at the airport as Maduro arrives in the U.S., it's, you know, you can really view it as the culmination of this month-long campaign that the president has orchestrated.
And I do think it was striking what we heard from General Dan Caine, who is the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who was talking about some of the steps that the forces took to protect Maduro himself in the course of this operation to ensure that he would be able to come to the United States and face justice on American soil, you know, these indictments that have been in place.
[17:14:43]
LIPTAK: And I think that's just telling about how the administration has viewed all of this. You know, they do very much want to see him face the American justice system. Although when President Trump was asked whether it was ever a possibility that these forces would kill Maduro, he said yes, that could have been a possibility.
And so dramatic day, certainly from down here in Palm Beach, up there in Florida, and in Caracas as well. But I think so many questions about what happens going forward.
SIDNER: Yes, so many. And just to recap what people are looking at. That is the plane that brought Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, to U.S. soil under -- after he, his country, was invaded by the United States and he and his wife were snatched from their beds over the early morning hours and brought to the United States.
You're just now seeing the sort of stairs there light up and some more activity as we see agents going in and out. We have been seeing that many of the agents have jackets on saying DEA.
So, DEA agents obviously involved in this just remarkable moment here as we wait to see him descend those stairs, as we understand it. From there, he will eventually be taken to the federal detention center.
Let's go now to our John Miller, who has been watching all of this intently and talking to his sources.
First of all, give us some sense of exactly what Maduro is facing as far as the charges that the DOJ has brought against him? And what will happen in the next moments as they take him down from this plane?
MILLER: Well, he's facing charges of narcotics and weapons trafficking, as is his wife facing similar charges, along with a number of other Venezuelan government officials who are listed on that 25-page indictment.
But you know, to get into the specifics of it, Sara, it's quite an amazing set of allegations. He is charged with, along with his wife, of arranging meetings between the head of the Venezuelan DEA, their narcotics enforcement federal agency, and the head of a drug cartel, basically to make sure that he would have free passage for his drug shipments.
He is charged with receiving payments of up to $100,000 per planeload that flew into and out of Venezuela, from the Colombian drug cartels run by people like El Chapo and then through Mexico for cocaine distribution into the United States and dealing with the Mexican drug cartels.
He is charged with allegedly providing drug traffickers with diplomatic passports so that they could pass through Venezuelan ports and other ports under diplomatic cover so that their bags and possessions could not and would not be searched.
And then there are shocking charges beyond the simply outrageous charges that President Maduro and his wife arranged for the kidnapping, beatings, torture of drug traffickers who either were behind in payments in bribe money, or refused to pay because they were paying other people.
So when you go through this 25-page indictment, what you see is, you know, the shocking allegations against a head of state and a head of state's spouse. Now, Maduro's wife in her own right, Cilia was a government official who held a number of posts over the years, including a congressional post, other influential jobs where she allegedly had her own dealing with drug traffickers and all of this amounts, allegedly to hundreds -- I'm sorry -- thousands of tons of cocaine, allegedly shipped through Venezuela, from Colombia stopping in Venezuela and then taking various routes, whether it was through Mexico or by boat, you know, up to the United States. So it's quite an extensive case.
What's most remarkable about it is President Maduro and his wife will be brought from this plane to a law enforcement facility in New York City, where they're going to be booked. And the process of booking someone, as actually President Trump learned himself, for a major criminal or a minor criminal is the same.
You know, they're going to have a mug shot facing forward, then facing sideways. They're going to be fingerprinted. They're going to give various biometrics and, you know, fill out the forms and then be taken to jail awaiting -- awaiting the arraignment, which will likely be on Monday.
But what is not routine, even though they'll go through the same routine as any other pair of prisoners, is how they were arrested. [17:19:47]
MILLER: This is a process where the U.S. brings charges against individuals, let's say a major narcotics trafficker in a different country where that goes then from the U.S. attorney's office to the U.S. office of international operations at the Department of Justice.
Then they arrange for an extradition request from our country to that country where the person is, and it goes through the two justice systems. It can take a year. It can take more than a year.
In this case, there was no extradition process in the diplomatic pathways of the State Department and the Justice Department.
This is what federal agents and prosecutors call an extraordinary rendition. It is a rarely-used term, but it basically means they have built the legal framework to conduct what is in the view of the U.S., a legal kidnapping, a snatch-and-grab where they go into a foreign country sometimes with the military. This was done in a number of terrorism cases, sometimes with law enforcement. In this case with both.
And the extraordinary rendition is they go where they need to go. They get through who they need to get through. They do what they need to do in terms of use of force and other protocols. And they get that person and they bring them back to the United States to face justice.
And the legality and the niceties of how it was done and whether it was proper can all be dealt with in court. But the main job is to get them here and to make sure that those layers of process are applied beforehand.
And what we saw today, probably for the second or third time, was an operation that was every bit as complex as the operation to get President Noriega out of Panama, or the assault on bin Laden's compound to neutralize him as a threat to the United States -- something that required a lot of planning, a lot of partnerships, and the biggest challenge maintaining total secrecy.
SIDNER: Absolutely. John Miller, as you walk us through this, we are now watching people leave the plane, and I'm just trying to see if one of the people leaving that plane surrounded by federal agents is the Venezuelan former president, Nicolas Maduro.
Right now, it looks like it is -- it is agents who have been going up and down those stairs. We know that the DEA, a huge part of this, and we've been seeing their jackets as well.
While we are waiting to see the moment when Nicolas Maduro leaves that plane, heads towards the next phase of the system in place -- the justice system in the United States in place.
Let's just watch here for a second, because this is the most activity we have seen this evening of people going in and out of that plane that has flown the president, ostensibly his wife, who were snatched from their beds in the middle of the night after strikes on Venezuela by the United States.
The president announcing that, also announcing that they did not go to Congress first, not even the Gang of Eight to let them know that this was about to happen.
But indeed, it did happen. And we are seeing the result of it here, very hard to see. As you might imagine, it is now dark on the East Coast in New York, where this is all taking place in Newburgh, New York.
But we are watching as they are -- it looks as if they are walking backwards. And so the person there, that maybe beyond the man with the backpack there, you see one agent walking backwards and you see someone flanked by quite a few people coming down the stairs, gingerly.
That may well be Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro taking his first steps onto U.S. soil. That appears to be what's happening, but we cannot guarantee it, as this is the most activity we have seen leaving that plane after quite a few minutes there, some maybe 20-30 minutes that we've been watching this.
But this is the largest group of folks that we've seen leaving that plane -- a remarkable, remarkable moment in history.
I want to go now to CNN's senior legal analyst Elie Honig, who has been -- is a former prosecutor working at SDNY. He knows the system very, very well.
As you are watching this, just give us a sense of the moment that we are seeing here and what will happen next as they take Maduro from this aircraft, ostensibly to another, correct?
ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, Sara.
Well, there's obviously vast political, international diplomatic significance to what's happening here. There's also really important legal significance to this very moment we're witnessing, because there's an important concept in federal prosecution called "venue".
[17:24:50]
HONIG: And what that means is you have to charge a case in the right federal district out of the 94 federal districts in the United States. This is, of course, the southern district of New York.
Now, there's two ways prosecutors can get venue. The first one is if they can show that some part of the conspiracy happened within that district.
But the second way, and I think this is what we're seeing right here is, if the person is being brought in from a foreign country, the first place they touch down and touch American soil, there is automatic venue there.
Now, this is a base in Newburgh, New York that's within the Southern District of New York. It's about 90 or so miles, 70 to 90 miles north of New York City.
And so when I was in the Southern District of New York, we would use this very airport all the time if somebody who was wanted, somebody who was under indictment, was captured in a foreign country and then brought in, we would bring them to this airport because this ensures venue in the Southern District of New York.
You heard President Trump earlier today at his press conference, say there would have to be a decision about whether this -- President Maduro would be tried in federal court in Florida or New York.
He's already been indicted in New York. And this to me, confirms that this case, this trial, will be handled in the Southern District of New York.
SIDNER: We are going to rerack these pictures because as you were talking, we just saw President Nicolas Maduro, the Venezuelan president. We could see that it was indeed him looking like he was wearing the same exact outfit that we saw earlier, a picture sent out by the administration. But a remarkable, remarkable moment where we're seeing him walking on U.S. soil, flanked by more than a dozen federal agents.
This is moments ago. I know it is very dark, hard to see, but eventually you will start to see it lighten up just a bit.
And you'll see most people surrounding him are wearing black clothing. But he is not. He is wearing something that is lighter, a gray color. Or it looks like gray -- potentially a light blue, but similar to what we saw in the pictures that were sent out by the administration.
You are seeing him there, flanked by so many agents and taking steps very slowly as they take him to the next position.
I think we have Jim Sciutto back with us to give us some sense of just the bigger picture in all of this, because there are so many pictures and questions that people have about what happened here and what this is going to mean, not only to Venezuela, where you have seen some folks who are gleeful, happy to see him gone felt that they lived in hell with his administration. But there are others that still support him there.
And what it means for the United States, where President Trump has said the United States will now run Venezuela for a time.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
SIDNER: Jim, this seems to be a huge shift in U.S. policy.
SCIUTTO: No question. Let's talk about the ripple effects, right? The multiple ripples emanating out from this.
So the first one, the most obvious one is in Venezuela. Who leads the country now? Who runs the country? How does the U.S. run it if the president is true to his word here. Does that involve military forces on the ground? A long-term political engagement with that country to set it on its way to elections, the president seems to be referencing here. That's an enormous task.
Then go out from there, because there is a direct connection between Venezuela and Cuba, because Cuba depends in large part on Venezuelan oil money to run itself.
Is Cuba the next target? In what way? Just economic pressure or military pressure as well? There's a whole host of U.S. forces in the Caribbean now quite close to Cuba as well.
We know that the Secretary of State Marco Rubio, has an enormous interest there. Is that potentially a next target?
Then you emanate further out from there to how do Russia and China, both of whom have direct interests in Venezuela, Russia in particular, from a security standpoint. There have been Russian forces on the ground there in the past, but also direct financial and economic interests there, given oil ties.
How do they react? Do they attempt to stand in the way of this going forward? Could they cede an opposition to, let's say, U.S. forces are on the ground to disrupt the aftermath of this? It's possible. There's precedent for that.
But also then how do they read the U.S. approach to the other countries where the U.S., Russia and China are coming into conflict? Ukraine, Taiwan -- potentially. Do they read this as the U.S. being less interested in those conflicts, therefore perhaps more amenable to Russian control of or progress in Ukraine or Chinese threats to Taiwan?
You know, those concentric circles of the ripples, Sara Sidner, go out quite far from Venezuela. And, of course, what we're watching right here in Newburgh, New York.
SCIUTTO: And goodness, you know, I was writing down on a piece of paper here, a rough list of other U.S. operations to remove the leaders of other countries.
Put Iraq there, right? That was messy, to say the least.
[17:30:02]
Panama worked out, it was relatively, you know, short. Minimal cost, but a much smaller country.
Grenada, again got to go back to the 80s here, much, much smaller country.
You know, to some degree, some parallels with the Osama bin Laden raid. Right? And that you had elite military forces go in, in that case, of course, kill the leader, although there was some talk of capturing him, each with different ramifications and outcomes.
But to some degree, with the exception of Iraq, this is one of the more ambitious U.S. regime-change efforts in recent memory. SIDNER: Yes. Then, we saw what happened in Iraq. I mean, they just -- there are just so many questions, and a lot of the, you know, members of Congress are asking those questions at this hour, wondering why they were not alerted to this happening, especially since the president himself is saying that the U.S. will now take over in Venezuela for a time as they work out who will then lead that country.
Jim Sciutto, please stick with us. I want to go, though, to Evan Perez, who was stationed outside the detention center in Brooklyn, which is about 70 miles from Newburgh. And we understand that from the plane that you saw, Maduro being taken off of in that remarkable moment. He is gone inside of that building, but we understand he will be taking a helicopter. He will be flown by helicopter to this facility eventually tonight.
Evan, what are you learning where you are?
EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Sara. We anticipate that eventually, this evening, we are going to see Nicolas Maduro arrive here at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. This is the secure federal facility where the -- where the Feds hold people who are about to be tried.
This is, you know, the only secure federal facility in this area right now. And what we anticipate is happening right now, you saw Maduro was met there with a team from the Drug Enforcement Administration. These are agents who have been working on this case. They have been after Maduro, investigating Maduro for more than a decade.
There is a number of other people, including a former Venezuelan intelligence chief, who have pleaded guilty over the years as part of this larger case, a case that essentially has been built on over the years with information.
You can see, certainly in this indictment that was unsealed today, you can see some of the information that they have been developing over the years, including examples, what they say, what prosecutors say, was Maduro, essentially using the diplomatic protection of the Venezuelan government to protect drug traffickers and to help them not only move drugs to the United States, but also to move some of their -- to launder some of their money in Venezuela. That is what makes the -- marks basis for this case. And so we're going to hear a lot more about this in the coming days.
We expect, Sara, that the DEA is going to play a role in processing him again in the -- in the coming hours, and then, eventually he'll be here, and we expect that he'll be in court as soon as tomorrow. Again, we are waiting for the judge who is overseeing this case, to let us know when to expect him. But then the case will start playing out.
There is a lot of legal rambling that we anticipate will be happening, including, of course, Maduro, when he has a lawyer. I'm sure, will make the case that we heard from Manuel Noriega, you know, back in 1990 that he is a leader of a foreign country, and so, he should be treated as a -- as a prisoner of war. He is not just a common criminal. All of those arguments we expect to unfold here in New York in the coming weeks and months. Sara.
SIDNER: Thank you so much, Evan. I know we'll be checking back in with you as you follow this case, and as the president of Venezuela ends up at that facility where you are.
I want to go back now to Elie Honig. We also have our Jim Sciutto and Cedric Leighton, who have stuck with us throughout the hour, watching these just remarkable historic moments in Newburgh, New York, of the President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, being taken out of a plane onto American soil, handcuffed and flanked by federal agents. He is charged with multiple, multiple things.
I do want to talk to you, Elie, about why New York? Why is it that, as someone who has worked in this office yourself, why is it that this case is being initially, is going to take place out of the Southern District of New York? Your former office?
HONIG: Well, Sara, I think, the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York is uniquely situated to handle this type of case. This is what that office has done for decades. This is the office that has handled the highest stakes, the highest pressure, the highest intensity criminal cases in this nation's history.
[17:35:09]
From the major Wall Street cases of the 1980s, the office has handled the largest international and domestic terrorism cases. The 1993 attack on the World Trade Center, the attack on the West Side Highway of Manhattan a few years ago.
This is an office that specializes in prosecuting international narcotics trafficking. This is the office that has prosecuted leaders of the FARC of various international drug trafficking groups. They have the expertise; they have the know-how. they have the personnel. They have the relationships, importantly, with the FBI, with the DEA, to handle a case like this.
I should also say that, that courthouse, the Southern District of New York courthouse, is also uniquely equipped to handle this type of trial. There have been all manner of historic trials in that courthouse. This will be different from those. But again, that courthouse is situated in a way, there is a history there. There are personnel there that know how to handle a case like this.
And so, it's completely consistent with the history the SDNY, that the justice department would have made the decision back in 2020 to originally indict this case there. And now, in 2026, to keep the case there as they supersede, as they add a new indictment.
So, there will be a criminal trial in all likelihood, of Nicolas Maduro and his wife, perhaps together, perhaps separately. But in that same district, at some point, this year or in the near future.
SIDNER: Just curious, Elie, you know how it works when it comes to Maduro is obviously going to be given a lawyer. This is the U.S. justice system that he is facing charges in. How does that work? How is that person chosen? What happens in that realm?
HONIG: So, there is two ways this could go, Sara. He could, of course, hire his own private lawyer. It needs to be a person who is licensed to practice in federal court in the Southern District of New York.
However, if he, let's say, gets a lawyer who's not licensed to practice in that district, you can get what's called waived in, meaning you can get permission for that lawyer to come in for purposes of a given case.
So, certainly, Nicolas Maduro, I don't think, is going to have any financial inability to hire a lawyer. So, he can choose to hire a lawyer, whoever he would like, whoever is willing to take the case.
If for some reason, any criminal defendant. I can't imagine how this would be the case with Nicolas Maduro. But if any criminal defendant cannot afford counsel, then one will be appointed for them.
At times, that could be the federal public defender, or other times, there's something called the CJA panel, the Criminal Justice Act panel, which is a panel of experienced New York-based criminal defense lawyers who will take the case at no charge to the individual.
So, I think it's very likely that Maduro and his wife and the other defendants in this case will each have their own private paid-for defense lawyers. But that's something that they will work out and solidify at the first court appearance, which likely, we don't know for sure, but likely will be Monday.
SIDNER: Yes. I mean, this is just extraordinary. And I just want to recap here what you are seeing right now. This is from moments ago. That is the president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, on the ground in the United States, in the dark there, flanked by dozens of federal agents on his way to, as the president put it, faced justice in the United States.
I want to go now back to Jim Schiutto. You have been on the phone, working those phones, as you always do. What are you learning?
SCIUTTO: I've been speaking to the Venezuelan opposition about their reaction to this. And I'm told that the opposition leader, Machado has been in touch with governments across the world following this operation, that includes the government of France, President Emmanuel Macron, but also, and this is crucial, governments in Latin America, Argentina, Ecuador, Panama, Paraguay, who I'm told, have shared with the Venezuelan opposition their shared desire in, "restoring the will of the people".
I think this is important, Sara, because here is the opposition saying that they are getting support from other countries for the opposition's role in the future of Venezuela post Maduro. And that's, of course, crucial, Sara, because as you and I were speaking earlier, President Trump and his comments from Florida earlier today seem to leave that question open. Right? He said the U.S. will be running the country. He raised some questions about the degree of support that Machado has in in the country of Venezuela, which is crucial, given that it is the wide view of observers of the most recent election that Machado actually won, and not Maduro, that would give, presumably, and certainly, in the eyes of many countries in the region and around the world, legitimacy to her claims to leadership in any sort of post-Maduro government.
But the opposition saying here that they are in touch with. Governments around the world and getting that kind of support. Right? As I said there, for restoring the will of the people in the country of Venezuela.
[17:40:10]
But at this point, remains very much an open question as to what the process will be to decide who leads the country next, and where the U.S. will be in that process, who will it support. Right? And does that include the opposition?
SIDNER: Yes. Really great reporting from you.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
SIDNER: I just want to recap that you said you were speaking to the opposition there in Venezuela, who says, look, we are getting support from other countries for their role in the future of Venezuela after post the Maduro regime, but they have not yet heard from the US. Just want to make sure we have that correct.
SCIUTTO: Well, I'm telling you exactly what they said, is that they have been in touch with France, Argentina, Ecuador, Panama, Paraguay, notable that, that list does not include the U.S.
That doesn't mean that they haven't been in touch with the U.S., but at least in terms of what they are saying now, where they're getting those words of support. That's the list as I have it.
SIDNER: That's the list as you have it right now. Thank you so much for your great reporting.
SCIUTTO: Thank you.
SIDNER: We have now with us, Congressman Adam Smith, Democrat from Washington. He is the House Armed Services Committee. Thank you so much for joining us. We were talking just yesterday about what was happening in Venezuela and what the Trump administration was saying about Iran, talking about locked and loaded, and now you see these remarkable moments happening. Just moments ago, we are seeing -- the president right now as we sit here talking to you of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro on U.S. soil, flanked by many different federal agents, mostly from the DEA, because we can see their jackets.
I just want to get your reaction to what has happened over the past several hours. REP. ADAM SMITH (D-WA): Yes, well, it's deeply concerning in turn -- on a number of levels. Number one, what comes next? As your reporters have done a great job of commenting on. OK, Maduro is gone. Who is leading Venezuela?
And we don't seem to know. And when President Trump says that the U.S. is going to be running Venezuela in the short term, and seems to have no idea what that means or how to achieve that. That's concerning, because if Venezuela descends into further chaos, that's not in the US interest, and we don't seem to have a plan to fix that.
And what U.S. interest is being advanced here exactly? It doesn't seem to have a lot to do with stopping drugs from coming into the U.S. And again, we don't know what the future is. And the president basically has decided that the U.S. has the right to simply remove another country's president by force when we feel like it. That has enormous implications, certainly for the Western Hemisphere and Trump's vision of us in the U.S. being able to dominate it, but also for Russia and China.
You know, what do we say to Putin if he says, well, I'm going to go in and remove Zelenskyy.
So, President Trump is taking us in what I think is a very dangerous direction, broadly in terms of policy, and then, specifically in Venezuela, where is this going? We don't know, and that could lead to all manner of different dangerous outcomes.
SIDNER: I'm curious to get your response. We just heard from Jim Sciutto, with some great reporting, he's talking to the opposition in Venezuela, who says, look, we have gotten express support from several other countries: France, Argentina, Panama, Paraguay, but he did not mention the United States in that. What do you make of that?
SMITH: Yes. Well, again, it goes back to what is Trump's goal here. And I think the easiest way to sum-up Trump's goal is he wants the oil. He wants U.S. oil companies, to have greater control over Venezuela oil. Now, there is all manner of problems with that to begin with, what's the infrastructure like to even get after that? And also, what's the legality of the U.S. asserting that level of control?
But he hasn't seemed to give much thought to what comes next. The stated purpose behind this for a lot of people, was that Maduro was not legitimately elected. He lost the election to Machado, and she should be the legitimate president of Venezuela. But if that's the case, we've removed Maduro, and now, as I understand it, the vice president who is no more legitimate than Maduro, has now taken over the presidency.
Well, what are we going to do about that? Who should lead Venezuela, and what's the process for getting there?
So, that, as I said, there is -- there is a lot of very troubling unanswered questions about where this policy goes past the OK, we snatched Maduro. Great, great job. But where does that leave, leave us, and what, what is the policy behind it? SIDNER: Are you pleased with the way that this was executed? Not, obviously, you are not pleased that this happened.
But do you give the administration credit for how it happened? No deaths and the president managed to do what he -- what he had planned on doing.
SMITH: Well, from a technical standpoint, yes, we got a great military.
[17:45:03]
They perform tasks incredibly well. They have for decades now. And yes, that is very impressive.
But this is what sort of has gotten us into trouble. And remember, this was part of Trump's argument for getting elected president. He was going to stop us stumbling into these conflicts. He was going to stop us using our military to try to solve all the world's problems.
Look, Saddam Hussein, terrible guy. Muammar Qaddafi, terrible guy. You know, our military did a very effective job of removing both of them from power. It didn't end well. That's the problem. That the military is really good at doing what it is assigned to do. But it's not in the nation building business, as we learned.
They can take people out. They can kill people. They can do it all very well, and it's good that we have that capability, but relying on that capability and thinking that that's a substitute for policy and a substitute for, you know, the far messier business of figuring out, well, who is going to lead the country and how -- and how is that going to work? That's what got us in trouble over the course of the last 30 years. It wasn't bad intentions. It was simply thinking that we could accomplish more than we actually could just with military might and precision.
So, yes, from a military operation standpoint, kudos, well, run. But the implications of where that goes is the far bigger problem that we now have.
SIDNER: Representative Adam Smith, we do appreciate you taking your time in this remarkable moment to walk us through your thoughts on what has happened between the United States and Venezuela, the Venezuelan president on U.S. soil soon to be taken to federal Detention Center in Brooklyn, from Newburgh, where he landed just a few minutes ago.
We do appreciate you walking us through that.
We are going to take a quick break. Stay with us. Much more to come as we await Nicolas Maduro being moved from Newburgh, New York, headed to New York City. It's about 60 to 70 miles in between. We'll be watching all this and give you the very latest. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:51:18]
SIDNER: All right. We are back with the "BREAKING NEWS". We have been watching as the Venezuelan president has been taken, landing in New York, taken from an airplane flanked by dozens of federal agents, wearing DEA on their backs as we watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SIDNER (voice over): This is from moments ago in Newburgh, New York. It is very dark. It is hard to see, but eventually you will start to see a man in somewhat lighter attire than those agents who were in all black, and that is Nicolas Maduro.
A remarkable moment in history for the United States and for Venezuela, as they have gone in the U.S. military and snatched the leader of a nation and his wife, charging them with a myriad of charges, everything from drug trafficking to gun running. There is so much more that people want to know as to what happens next.
The president of the United States saying that for a time, it will be the U.S. that will run Venezuela as the president goes through -- the president of Venezuela goes through the U.S. justice system. There are many, many things that people want to know the answers to.
But at this hour, these remarkable images of the president of Venezuela in handcuffs. He may also be -- he is walking very gingerly, very slowly, flanked by all of those agents to try to get him to the federal facility that's about 60 to 70 miles away in Brooklyn.
We have a lot of folks who have been watching this and stayed with us throughout this coverage. Joining me now is CNN senior political commentator Adam Kinzinger.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIDNER: Adam, first, can you just give me a sense of what you are seeing and what you are feeling and analyzing as you look at these remarkable moments of a leader of a sovereign nation in handcuffs on U.S. soil after being snatched from his bed?
ADAM KINZINGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, look, I think we have to acknowledge a couple of things. Number one, Nicolas Maduro is a terrible man, and also, he is not the rightful president of Venezuela.
My Democratic friends are getting kind of sucked into this trap of saying, we just deposed the president of Venezuela, or you know, your prior guest, compared it to Zelenskyy. It's very different.
Zelenskyy was rightfully elected. Zelenskyy is president of Venezuela. This guy was not I think that's important. At the same time, Donald Trump's press conference frightened me.
SIDNER: Zelenskyy is president of Ukraine. You misspoke. Yes.
KINZINGER: Oh, yes, I'm sorry. SIDNER: Go ahead.
KINZINGER: But on the other hand, Donald Trump's press conference made me very worried, because he talked about oil. He said we were in charge. I have no idea how we are in charge right now in Venezuela. And he also said, the rightful president of Venezuela, Maria Corina, I think that's how you say her name. That he -- she doesn't have all this support. She just won a presidential election, so that's concerning.
SIDNER: Yes. Maria Corina Machado, you got that right. And we have heard from our Jim Sciutto that he is been talking to the opposition, who says that they have gotten support, explicit support, from several countries, including France, Argentina, Panama, and Paraguay. But they did not mention the United States so far. And so, that was potentially concerning, certainly to the opposition and to some Venezuelans, as this goes forward.
I do want to ask you about something that you just picked up on that cannot be ignored. The president of the United States saying plainly and clearly that the U.S. will now run Venezuela for a time. What does that mean, you think?
[17:55:00]
KINZINGER: I mean, that's what I don't know, and that's what's confusing everybody. I guess, my assumption from that is that we are in conversations with the military or the fake vice president who is acting as president now, and that somehow there is going to be some kind of conglomeration. But the reality is this, you can't be in charge of a country if you don't have troops on the ground. And I mean, it's just physically not possible.
So, I don't know, unless there's something behind the scene happening that we haven't seen, but I think it's just again, the thing that really shocked me, though, is it would be one thing if the president said, look, Maduro is gone. We are going to support the rightful president of Venezuela who actually won the election.
But for the president to say, no, we are in charge, there is going to be a group running Venezuela. And, by the way, oil, oil, oil, people are rightfully concerned about that.
I am celebrating Maduro's capture. I am celebrating the amazing actions by the U.S. military. I am very concerned that there is no after plan right here from this administration.
SIDNER: This is an interesting political change, if you will. The president of the United States throughout his campaign and throughout his presidencies, his first and second, has said over and over again that he wants to be the president of peace, that he wants to end all wars, that he does not believe the United States should be the police of the world -- the world's police officer, if you will.
And now, we are seeing this. Do you see this as a complete change in the idea of what the Trump administration calls America First? KINZINGER: Yes. I mean, there is a couple things here, first off. I think, if there ends up being a peaceful, which we all pray for, a peaceful transition to the rightful president of Venezuela, and this is all that had to do. This will be come down as history is probably a good move for president, particularly politically.
If this ends up being chaotic in Venezuela, there is not going to be suicide bombers, car bombs, stuff like we saw in Iraq. It's just a very different country than that. But there could be competitions within the military, within different gangs, for power, and that would require the president to either then walk away or to put boots on the ground.
And yes, that is a violation. But what you've seen in Trump's foreign policy is like getting super engaged in our hemisphere and ignoring the real challenges, Russia, invading Ukraine, China. So, I don't know what Trump's foreign policy is. I think this is certainly concerning what it leads to, but I don't think anybody knows really what the future of this conflict or the future of Venezuela is. We just have to pray that it's good, and we should all root for democracy to succeed in Venezuela, as well as in the United States.
SIDNER: Last question here. There were some clues that something was going to happen. The president went on social media, as he does, and said after he struck one portion of Venezuela, a port, that there would be more to come, and that possibly more strikes to come.
So, ultimately, when you hear that, and you see the result of him actually doing so, he has said that the United States has guns locked and loaded when it comes to Iran. Do you think that we are headed down that path with Iran? Is that a warning that will come to fruition?
KINZINGER: I personally think not. But you make a good point. I mean, I don't -- I don't think not with hundred percent certainty, because that's a reality. He did say it. He has made the similar threats to Venezuela, and we see that he took action. That's dangerous.
Look, I am all for a free Iran. I am cheering for a free Iran. But if there is regime change in Iran, it has to come from Iranians, not from the United States, because if the United States would engage militarily -- now, I reserve and say, if this turns into a serious situation, that's different. But where it is now, if the United States engages, you just create an enemy that unites everybody.
What we need to do is show the Iranian people that we support them. We want them to have freedom, and we are behind their right to change their government as they see fit, but it can't come from us.
SIDNER: Adam Kinzinger, thank you for joining me on this historic day. I'm Sara Sidner. Jessica Dean will pick up our special breaking news coverage of the U.S. military operation in Venezuela on the other side.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: This is "CNN BREAKING NEWS". (END VIDEO CLIP)
JESSICA DEAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And welcome to a special "BREAKING NEWS" edition of CNN NEWSROOM, everyone. I'm Jessica Dean, here in New York.
We have been following this all day, just moments ago. This is the latest. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, arriving on U.S. soil at a military base here in the state of New York. Dozens of federal agents seen escorting him off that plane.
[18:00:03]
And as soon as Monday, he could be inside a U.S. federal court. Now, all of this taking place just hours after the Trump administration launched that large-scale strike on Caracas overnight.
